The layoffs announced this week at Maine Medical Center have left dozens of people looking for jobs and many more wondering about the stability of careers in the medical profession.

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The changes at Maine Medical Center include 50 layoffs, 120 early retirements, elimination of 175 vacant positions, pay freezes and pay cuts for top earners.

Many consider careers in medicine as good jobs that are recession-proof, but educators and job trainers said that’s not true although the industry is changing.

“What I heard in the announcement from Maine Med is that economic realities are catching up with the hospitals across the state,” said Christopher Hall, the interim president at York County Community College. “They’ve been in growth mode for the last 20 years without much regard to costs, but finally there is push-back from the customers and from the insurance companies.”

Hall said the college has seen other hospitals stop hiring, but he doesn’t think it is a bad sign for people pursuing jobs in health care.

“Well, most obviously, we’re all continuing to get older and sicker in this state, and so elder care, in all of its forms, is continuing to be a major area of employment growth,” Hall said.

College staffers said they train people to work in a health care world that is moving away from big, nonprofit hospitals and toward smaller for-profit clinics.

“There is going to be some need for specialization and it’s giving those folks the right skills to be able to find those jobs,” said Paulette Millette, the career training director at YCCC.

One woman, who was laid off from Maine Medical Center and wanted to remain anonymous, said she understood why the hospital had to make cuts. Another anonymous former worker said she was disgusted that employees are losing their jobs while the hospital plans to build a $40 million expansion.

Top hospital officials did not want to comment, but Maine Medical Center’s communications director said in an email that the hospital’s current operating platform was built 30 years ago.

“Although $40 million is a sizeable number, we’re not spending it all at once,” the communications director wrote. “This is a capital project that will be paid for over a number of years. This is a prudent investment that will create better access and improved care for our patients.”

Friday will be the last day for all of the laid-off workers. The hospital did not say how many of the affected workers are doctors or nurses.